solar power

Finally this week I can take advantage of a little sunshine to dry things out.  It's been rain, rain, rain around here for weeks, months?  I've lost track.  These are a few of the bisque fired pots I set out after glazing the interiors- some small bottles and honey pots.  Contrasting glazes will be applied to the outside of the pots.  Sometimes I can do the two steps one after another, but it really depends on the glazes.  The moisture absorbed into the bisqued pot from the first glaze sometimes causes problems in getting a good coat of the second glaze to adhere.

schedule

 I am beginning to accumulate enough work to bring both to the farmer's market and Riverside Artists Gallery so I have posted the dates on which I plan to attend the farmer's market for the next few months:  Sept. 28, Oct. 12 and 26, and Nov. 9 and 23.   These dates will also be shown in the right side column of this blog under "About me" which I will update if there are any changes.

I'll be working at the gallery this Saturday 10:00 to 5:00 so stop by and visit. 

 

Here's some jars I've been working on lately.  Mostly honey jars, but a few others, too.  The jars in the first picture have been textured with a honey comb pattern.  This came from a rubber hot pad I found at the grocery store.

 

 

Next, I'll start working on pumpkins.  I just washed all my tools in anticipation of switching from white stoneware clay to tan stoneware.  I have a few of these left from last year and already sold a couple at the market last Saturday.  I have quite a bit of bisqueware sitting around ready to glaze but hate to stop to do that when I have these pumpkins yet to make.  They take a long time to dry so I need to get at them now. 

This is a picture copied from one of my sold orders from Etsy so I don't have these actual pumpkins (obviously), but the ones I have are very similar. 

new computer, bird poop, and pottery

My son built us a new computer so I'm giving this a try for the first time.  Loading pictures is a little different with this one.  Here's a few, some pottery, some not.

A bird used this rake hanging under our carport to help support a nest.  You can hear lots of little peeps coming from it.  I guess they'll be moved out when we need it this fall.

I put these plates outside to speed up drying, then left to run errands. Naturally, a bird pooped on  one. I guess I put it too close to that rake nest.

Not real happy with the glaze on these. I often do like to see some clay body showing through, and now I remember thinning down this glaze because I thought it was too thick last time I used it.  Think I overdid it.  I may try to reglaze these- always tricky to get good results trying to glaze on already fired ware. This was a specific customer request, so of course something would go wrong.

Some glaze tests.  The one on the right is supposed to be purple.  I was hoping for something else.  This definitely isn't it.  The one in the middle has a little green in it. You can see it best in the next shot. It is a combination of two glazes I already have.  Might be a possibility.  The strong green glaze is not food safe.  I had planter pots/outdoor pieces in mind for it.   

Better shot of middle glaze.  A transparent green where thick.

Another test.  I ran out of test tiles so I used this wick holder.  This is two glazes I already had mixed up.  Grace's Blue layered over Albany Slip Plum.  Interesting, but wants to run.

And here's Red making himself at home on the work table.

honey pots

Time to make more honey pots- I'm all out and I've had some requests.  Now that I have nailed a calendar to the wall next to my wheel I might be better able to handle planning what needs to be done when. Uh, verses the little scraps of paper fluttering around my work table which was my previous mode of operation.  Here are some newly made honey pots-

Some of these will be glazed in a yellow butter satin, and I think I might use my clear glaze with a little iron oxide and/or rutile added for the rest.  Maybe make the bird a contrasting color on some.

  I also made a few of these flying nun baskets, mainly because of a request to make one in all dark glazes.  To me this kind of disappointing because it nullifies the reason I came up with the name for these baskets.  When I first started making this form the nun's habit came to mind so I've always used a whitish glaze on the handle and habit part.  I guess I'll get over it.  And if you're too young to know about the flying nun try googling it along with "Sally Fields".
On another subject, I follow the blogs of potters from various areas besides the U.S.  One, living in Japan, tells of his recent experience with the earthquake. Fortunately, his family made it through unharmed.  Somehow his account of how it happened to him seemed much more real than what I watch on the news or read in the paper.  When I went down to the levee last Saturday to gawk at the swollen Ohio river, which was high enough to do damage here and there but nothing like 2004, I caught myself thinking about having fun picking though all the neat driftwood that will be left behind.  Then I remembered all the wreckage that is left behind in Japan.